Krampusnacht
Superstar

Yesterday was December 5th, and for those who don't know, December 5th is the day when the stereotypical Christmas of "we're all nicer" goes to die.

Why? Simple.

December 5th is the day of Krampus! The true hero of Christmas! He who takes the naughty children, stuffs them into his black sack, and then beats them to a pulp!

And not only that, because December 5th is also the day (or rather the night) of Krampusnacht, better known as "the parade of the Krampus", where hundreds of people parade in the streets dressed as Krampus or Belznickel (because in reality there is only one Krampus and the masked devils are the Belznickel, whoever trusts the Italian Wikipedia is nutty, but oh well).

What does this needless historical preamble have to do with the album I'm about to review?

Well, it so happens that the artist I'm about to talk about bases his entire project precisely on everything I've just discussed, including the day and the timing of music releases.

As you may have already guessed, the artist in question is named Krampusnacht, hails from Greenland (that's right), and both of his works (last year's Krampusnacht and the present Superstar) are concentrated bundles of Christmas darkness, both released on December 5th. Two works that fall into the vast world of Dungeon Synth, a subgenre of Dark Ambient, which I love.

If the first Krampusnacht was a beautiful Dungeon Synth album (in its "simplicity"), Superstar stays on the same level of beauty, but with an even more enriched, more complex composition. Aside from the quite ridiculous title (an intended reference to Jesus Christ Superstar, so much so that in the album's packaging there is a modified version of the film's symbol), what lies behind it is a long journey into the darkness of Christmas, which begins with great pomp with the crescendo of the opening "Ouverture", and continues with gems like "Veni, Veni, O Belznickel", the tense "Krampusnacht", the atmospheric and hugely expansive "Expedition 50 (Соыуз Одыссея)" (aka Soyuz Odyssey), and all the others that make up the tracklist, including my absolute favorite: "Marche pour les Gobelins", a mighty and epic march that slows in the middle, paying a small tribute to the windy dark atmospheres of the first Mortiis (specifically of "Ånden som gjorde opprør") before resuming its initial pace. The entire album is a procession of pieces that frequently change mood, moving from full and epic parts to suspended, slow atmospheres with a decidedly Folk flavor.

Unfortunately, however, this album also has a flaw: the seventh song, Ded Moroz. A remake of the Nutcracker's theme...

...done in collaboration with a Hip Hop producer.

The main issue is not so much the song itself, which is actually quite fun, but the fact that it totally clashes with the rest of the album, being as appropriate as a Grindcore song in a Stoner album (oh right, Conan's Paincantation... but oh well, that's another story).

But despite this, Krampusnacht's Superstar is still a great album, certainly not better than the debut, but still a gem of the Dungeon Synth genre, which allows us to experience the Christmas holiday from a very different perspective.

It makes you feel like an Ebenezer Scrooge of an isolated Scandinavian village, who travels at night and sees the present Christmas, but with the specter of the future Christmas (which in this case is not death but our Krampus) by his side.

You pass from village to village, embraced by the winter chill, in the snow and the densest night, illuminated only by a great red moon. In the wind, you hear the echoes of warm Christmas melodies, but distorted, corrupted by the darkness and malice of the Krampus, and when you enter the villages, people see only him, with his cohort of Belznickel marching grimly, announcing the arrival of the punisher of naughty children, with the black sack in one hand and the club in the other.

And when you leave, nothing remains but a writing in the snow, reading:

GRUSS VOM KRAMPUS!